DIY Hermes paper bags to download

Hemes bags - dreams, dreams. But, if you can't buy the leather bag, you can make paper one. Hermes offered the pattern of their famous Kelly bag. They removed the pattern from their site, but download it here.

Fortunatelly, the Jige clasp is still available on their site - here is the link to pdf file.

Just in case Hermes update their site and  remove patterns, here is the file (pdf).

Have fun!

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Origami angels for the new year

Angels again, this time simple, easy to make, but beautiful origami paper angels. It is a great fun folding them and varying the paper you can make them to fit everywhere. 

Tutorial how to make origami angel

Tutorial for this angel I found on this link as pdf file. It was designed at papirfoldning.dk - great origami side. Although it is mostly on dannish, I am sure everyone can manage to understand diagrams.

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Alter Christmas door wreath

Holidays season is coming, time to wrap up the year (again, so soon), decorate home, make/buy gifts, bake cookies, hang  Christmas wreath on a door. Could it be a little bit different this year? Something original, upcycled, funny? I found some very awesome wreath on the net, see if you could use the idea.

This ideas I found here. I love the ties wreath, as tie originally comes from Croatia.

For this minimalistic wreath made from toilet paper roles, you can find tutorial how to make wreath.

This one is made from straw.

Easy to make, but very effective. Love it (found here.)

With the combination of various colors, this wreath is suitable for all seasons. Learn how to make it, it is fun.

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Something new for gift wrapping

OK, it might not be so new, but it is so simple, yet so nice, and there are endless variations. New Year is near and it is time to start thinking about gifts fo our love ones. Ant it is never just about buying and shopping, but how to make these moments solemn. Wrapping gift is as important to me as chosing the gift. I found this very easy yet very clever way of gift wrapping and made small tut to share it.

Tutorial how to make gifts box

Make a pattern: draw half a circle and add 1 cm of lenght. Size of the circle (and the box) depends on the gift.

Put the pattern on the paper and cut the four such pieces. Cut the square with the size of the circle diameter.

Bottom of the box (outer)

Inner side of the box

Glue this half circles on the square bottom.

Fold the 'petals' one under the previous (las one under the first one).

Take paper tape and glue it (not to the box, but two tape ends together).

Now it's the time to add string, other tapes, decorations.

Or, you can personalize yout own paper. Or, my favourite, recycle journals or newspapers.

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Labels and tags for jars

While the nature is flurishing around us, it is time to think on the cold part of the year. I started to make marmelade, first on my list is currant, apricot time (my favourit) is in two to three weeks. But, besides preparing jam and marmelade, I enjoy to decorate jars. I always make more than we need and  give them as a gift to my friend and family - for Christmas, birthday or just for love.

Below find some photos and links to stickers and labels you can download and customize.

This is nice site, labels are simple but beautiful.

On the Wordlabel.com you can find number of customizable labels.

For romantic souls, vintage labels.

Or, you could make your own stickers - this is example how just with text, no pictures, labels could look cool.

Tips and tricks for printing stickers

There are number of ways to print labels or stickers and put them on jars. Sometimes I just print them on usual paper and glue them on jar or tie them as tags. Recently I got plain white stickers on A4 paper. After strugling with tuning (although first on the plain A4 paper), found that Microsoft Publisher (comes with MS Office) is very usefull and has built in feature for labels (in Templates). In Microsoft Word I am using tables to adjust  labels position.

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Flower made from egg cartons

There are a lot of discussion on internet whether it is OK to put other people's craft on your own blog or not. I feel sometimes I just need to pay tribute to some authors, this time I can't resist to this work of Jane LaFazio. She made this beautiful flowers from egg cartons and published also a tutorial how to make the flowers.

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Valentine sugar card

In my believe, it is always better to make cards and gifts by yourself - in that way you show people you do care about them - in the hectic and busy era we live, time is the most precious to give. This card is easy to make, I like to use material I can find at home.

Read this simple tutorial how to make Valentine sugar card.

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Gift wrapping for Christmas, birthdays, wedding, love

Holiday season started and these days we are thinking more and more about the  New Year's Eve and Christmas. And, of course, gifts for our family, friends, loved ones. I am always much more excited to see if I chose the right gift, whether it brought joy to my loved ones, than looking forward to unwrap mine.

Wrapping gift is almost as important as buying/making them. If you don't have time or inspiration to make something by yourself, at least you can try to be original with wrapping. It is easy to buy, but investing our creativity, imagination and time we show that we do care for others giving them a part of ourselves.

Recycled material is something I prefer. Here are some examples (and tutorials) how to wrap gifts with the material you can easily find at home.






Newspaper bowl gift wrap

Shirt sleeve for wrapping

Paper bow

Recycled burlap and paper gift wrap

Furoshiki

I 've always loved book stores and at least once a week I spend some time in one of them, reviewing what is new, particularly on the shelf with crafts books. Few month ago I accidentally came across a book about furoshiki and was honestly thrilled with it. It is 

the art of Japanese cloth wrapping and has been a part of daily life in Japan for centuries.  It originated as a way to bundle clothes  for easier transport, and evolved into the art.    Official Furoshiki site     offers  comprehensive tutorials on how to wrap different items such as wine bottles, books and more.   Some of examples follow:

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Chalkboard everywhere

 Last few weeks I became a 'chalkboard' freak. Refurbished kitchen using chalkboard paint, then made a frame for notes (you can find this tut in  my post here) , painted inner sides of desk's doors. And found this awesome  tutorial how to make chalkboard wrapping paper . I love the possibilities chalkboard gives me - I can change the images, text, chalk colors, and get renewed interior. 

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Paper bead jewelry

I am always working on few parallel projects. Sometimes it is OK, I need to rethink about the next step or simply, wait for paint to dry. But sometimes, I am eager to finish everything and have too much on the agenda. I am writing this because I was frustrated this morning when remember that started paper bead necklace few month ago and did't have time to finish it (and needed just the like the unfinished one). Paper is definitely my favorite material. And how to make paper beads and make various jewelry pieces you can find on the paperbeads site. I discovered it recently and love the pieces and tuts I found there.

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Paper basket

I've been very busy lately, working simultaneously on few projects. I am taking photos to use them in tutorials, hope this will be done soon. One of my 'projects' is also tidying up  the closets.  I found this interesting recycled paper basket on Design*Sponge. I am planning to make some, when finish other on going tasks, to make  better order in my closets and on shelves. Hope my hubby won't freak out, as usually, when I am reorganizing the house.

Find tutorial here.

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Cardboard furniture

Surfing the internet, I accidentally  found a very interesting site describing how to make furniture from cardboard. Foldschool is a collection of free cardboard furniture for kids (and for adults), handmade by you. The downloadable patterns can be printed out with any printer. Follow the instructions and assemble a stable piece of furniture. I haven't tried yet but plan to do (I always plan too many things and projects). I see a great potential to create something original for my home.

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Handmade Paper roses

Sometimes the easiest and most simple things can make a big difference. I started to make those roses just for fun, but realized how they can be usefull and decorative in many situations.


With this beautiful paper roses decorate your home and bring sent of romance in your day! How to make them, read after the jump.

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